History of Columbia County, New York

By Captain Franklin Ellis

Published by Everts & Ensign

Philadelphia, PA

1878

CHAPTER XVI.

Pages 141 to 143

VALUATIONS AND TAXATION.

State Loans and United States Deposit Funds.

    [Page 141] Public moneys were first raised in the colony of New York, June 1, 1665, by warrant issued by the governor, Colonel Nicolls, to the sheriff and collectors.*  It would appear that antecedent to this time the towns and counties raised moneys for their own use, but the precise mode is not known.  A tax called a "benevolence" was raised on the inhabitants, as appears from a letter from Governor Andross, and Smith observes "this proceeding was a badge of bad times."  In 1683, the first regular system of taxation by law was adopted.  The wars of England with European nations, especially with the French, plunged the colony into an enormous debt, most burdensome to the inhabitants.  From 1691 to 1709 the sum of £61,861 was raised by the colonists for building forts, raising and paying troops, and for other war purposes, besides the excise tax of a penny in the pound for the ordinary and incidental charges of the colony.  Before 1776 the colonists were obliged to pay nearly £1,000,000 sterling.  In 1788 the first regular system of taxation was adopted by the State.

    The first tax levied in Columbia county was in 1786, and was apportioned as follows:

     The last assessment and valuation was that of 1877, which was was follows:

    Over $450,000 has been paid in taxes for highway and bridge purposes since the organization of the county.  The total taxes paid by the people of Columbia county since the organization of the county, exclusive of the city and school taxes of Hudson, and the taxes raised for school purposes in the school districts, are as follows, by decades:

    The heaviest tax paid in a single year was in 1864, when the taxes amount to $444,584.36; the next heaviest was in 1873, $347,708.32.  The appropriations made by the board of supervisors against the tax of 1877 were as follows:

    The gross receipts by the count treasury for the year ending Nov. 27, 1877, were $250,198.89, including a balance of $9,837.33 on hand from 1876.  $161,380.95 was for taxes collected; $26,695 from the sale of county bonds; and $31,361.60 from the State school fund for distribution.  $87,601.56 was paid to the State treasurer; $4800 for the insane asylum on the county farm; $12,985.81 for the support of the poor; $8498.90 to State charities; $12,465.22 for expenses growing out of the courts; $8500 for salaries.  A balance was left on hand of $2016,86, and about $1500 was due from the towns for the year's unpaid taxes.

    Railroad corporations were taxed for the year 1878 as follows:

    The present bonded indebtedness of the county is as follows:

    Town indebtedness:

    The following is the statement of the amount of tax levied and assess upon the incorporated companies in the county of Columbia for the year 1877:

    During the existence of the office of county excise commissioner there was received into the county treasury from the excise tax or license the sum of $23,367.

THE STATE LOAN.

    On the 18th of April, 1786, bills of credit to the amount of £200,000 (New York currency) were emitted by the State for the relief of the people, in the way of a circulating medium, and loaned to the different counties according to their population, and loan commissioners appointed in each county to manage and loan the same on real estate security at five per cent. per annum, the loan to run fourteen years and limited to £300 to any one person.  these bills of credit were counterfeited, and in February, 1788, new bills were printed for those in circulation and the old ones retired, and a death penalty declared against all counterfeiters of the new issue.  In 1796 another loan was made to the new counties, and in 1807-8 still another loan was made by the creation of a debt by the State, bonds being issued therefor and sold, and the funds arising therefrom distributed pro rata among the counties on the basis of population, and commissioners appointed as before to handle the funds in each county.  The amount received by Columbia county in 1792 was $40,325, and in 1808, $18,580, and was kept at interest as a separate fund until 1850, when it was consolidated with the

UNITED STATES DEPOSIT FUND,

the principal of which was deposited in the county in 1837, and amounted to $100,298.54, and separate and distinct commissioners appointed to loan the same.  This deposit fund was the portion awarded to Columbia county from the surplus moneys in the United States treasury deposited with the several States by act of Congress of June 23, 1836, and the amount deposited with New York was, by act of the Legislature of April 4, 1837, distributed among the several counties according to their population.  The loans from this fund are limited between $200 and $2000 to a single individual, except in New York, where the limits are $500 and [page]143] $5000.  The interest is charged at seven per cent., and the same paid into the State treasury, less fees and expenses of collection, and by the comptroller distributed among the counties for the support of schools and academies.

    The State loans were guaranteed by the board of supervisors, and after paying several losses, an order was passed to pay the principal back to the State as fast as the loans were paid in by the parties who contracted the same, and in 1850, the amount remaining of the loans of 1792 and 1808 was but $5510.  Some portion of this fund is still running at interest on the original loans made in 1795.  The amount reported on loan by the loan commissioners in November, 1877, was $69,013.70.  Under the act of 1786, £22,000 was apportioned to Albany county, a portion of which was loaned to citizens in the territory now included in Columbia county.

* Smith's History of New York, p. 31.

† Payable to city treasurer.

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